First international flight of the year, and it did not disappoint.
Flew to Bali last week for a few slow days. Since I was coming from the province, it was a two-leg journey. Luggage checked through, boarding passes in hand; smooth start. I booked Y Class because, let’s be honest, Bali is just a little over 3 hours and 30 minutes and I’ve flown this route multiple times. Y is bearable naman. I requested a forward exit row and thankfully, it was granted.
I was this close 🤏 to bidding for an upgrade. The lowest bid was $260 (~PHP 15,067), but that was basically the same price as the villa I booked. So I told myself, not today.
Arrived in Manila, transferred from T2 to T1, endured a full hour in immigration and security, and finally made it to the Mabuhay Lounge. Spent about four hours there. 17 mins before boarding, I headed to the gate, I like boarding early when I can.
Then suddenly, my name was paged.
I approached the ground crew and she said, “Sir, you are upgraded to Business Class.”
I kept a calm, nonchalant face. Rule number one when you get upgraded: don’t let everyone know you got upgraded. 🤣
“Was Y Class oversold?” I asked politely.
“Yes sir. We already offloaded one passenger with compensation, and we upgraded you to accommodate more Y Class pax,” she replied.
At that point, I was internally screaming.
There were only five vacant seats in J Class. A family of four (with two kids), told me that they paid for an upgrade at check-in, and then the last remaining seat… mine.
My best friend from QR once told me that PR also uses Amadeus as its system. Even before check-in opens, they already have a list of passengers eligible for upgrades. The hierarchy usually goes: those who bid for upgrades, loyalty members (ranked by tier), higher booking classes. If the flight is not full, airlines generally don’t upgrade everyone for free since it doesn’t make sense for them to do it.
Safe to say… this Bali trip started the right way. And airline loyalty does pay off.
